“MYANMAR SHIPPING”

THE LENGTH OF THE COASTLINE,FROM THE MOUTH OF NAFF RIVER TO KAWTHOUN IS APPROXIMATELY, 1,385 MILES.

The Fleets

The major shipping fleet in Myanmar is Myanmar Five Star Line (MFSL). The company was established in 1959 to carry the commodities of Myanmar’s export and import trade and to fulfil the domestic demand for transportation of the carriage of passengers and cargo. It is owned by the State and stands proudly as national fleet.
It operates 26 vessels with total deadweight of 153,635 tons. More precisely, there are 12 ocean going vessels, 4 short sea trade cargo vessels, 5 coastal cargo vessels and 5 coastal cargo passenger vessels. Vessels were made in China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, and Norway, All vessels are manned by Myanmar certified officers and crews.

Five Star Line has four main services:

A Europe service – this service does not provide a full service to Europe. Rather, it offers a service between Yangon and West Coast India where cargo can then be transhipped to Europe. It is not a liner service and operates on an inducement basis.

A South East service to Singapore and Bangkok.

A Far East service to Japan and China

A coastal service to the coastal ports of Thandwe, Kyaukpyu, Sittwe, Cocos Island, Mawlamyine, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthaung.

The Ports

The Port of Yangon, which has long history, is the main port of Myanmar. In 1880, it was run by Commissioners for the Port of Rangoon. Then, in 19 54 – Board of Management for the Port of Rangoon took care the port operations. In 1972 Burma, Ports Corporation controlled the port until 1989. From then on Myanma Port Authority (MPA) governed the port operations.

It is situated at Latitude 16. 47′ N and Longitude 96. 15′E on the Yangon River and about 32 km inland from the Elephant Point on the Gulf of Martaban.
It have been handling about 90 % of the country’s exports and imports. And whilst the majority of traffic is international, there is also significant coastal activity. But much of the coastal activity does not use the wharf facilities.

It is river port and there are two restricted, bars along the approached channel:- the first one, for inbound vessel, is called Outer Bar which is located at the mouth of the River and the another one is known as Inner Bar which is located near Yangon Port at Monkey Point.
Navigation from the Pilot Station, which is further 32 km seaward from Elephant Point, to the Yangon harbour is generally on a flood tides and has to be timed carefully to cross both those two bars near high tide to ensure sufficient depths while the vessel is passing them.

At present there are I1 Myanmar Port Authority owned wharfs, six other government owned wharfs and nine private owned wharfs for international vessels. Sule Pagoda Wharf has seven berths and there are three berths at Bo Aung Gyaw plus the Hteedan Rice Berth.
Thilawa, an international multi-purpose port, is fully owned by a foreign private company, Hutchison Port Holdings. Myanmar.

Navigation is limited depending on the vessel’s actual draft and speed in order to clear the two bars. In addition, entry into the inner harbour is restricted to daylight hours. Entry into the port is limited to vessels up to 10,000/ 15,000 DWT with a maximum draft of 9 metres and a maximum length of 167 metres. The ability of the port to load and unload cargo is al heavily constrained by the raining season which lasts from May to October. The bulk cargoes such as rice, which dominate the out shipment, are often delayed in the wet season.
While there are constraints on the ability to expand the available port resources, there are plans for further expansion. These include replacing the Htee Tan Wharf with a bulk handling berth, developing Sule Pagoda Wharf No. 8 as a modern conventional berth and upgrading Bo Aung Gyaw wharf. And at present, part of Yangon-Thilawa Port Improvement Project has been implemented.

Considering recent rapid growth in traffic at Port of Yangon, particularly with respect to containerized traffic, it has intentions to implementboth hardware and software measures to increase Yangon Port’s capacity to serve primarily traffic to/from Myanmar and secondarily traffic to/froth Yunnan Province, China.
According to the project, in the short term, it would involve the construction of a container terminal, a container freight station, and a mechanical workshop at Thilawa, as well as technical assistance aimed at improving the efficiency of port operations at Yangon.

In the medium term, the project would involve the construction of three timber berths and one berth for handling bulk agricultural products at Thilawa.

In the long term, 17 berths would be completed at Thilawa, including four container terminals, three timber berths, two berths for bulk agricultural products, and eight general cargo.